on writ of certiorari to the united states court of appeals for the ninth circuit

[June 24, 2010]

Justice Breyer
, concurring.

In circumstances where, as here, “a law significantly implicates competing constitutionally protected interests in complex ways,” the Court balances interests.
Nixon
v.
Shrink Missouri Government PAC
,
528 U. S. 377,
402 (2000)
(
Breyer, J
., concurring). “And in practice that has meant asking whether the statute burdens any one such interest in a manner out of proportion to the statute’s salutary effects upon the others.”
Ibid.
As I read their opinions, this is what both the Court and
Justice Stevens
do. See
ante
, at 7 (opinion of the Court);
post
, at 2 (
Stevens, J.,
concurring in part and concurring in judgment). And for the reasons stated in those opinions (as well as many of the reasons discussed by
Justice Sotomayor
), I would uphold the statute challenged in this case. With this understanding, I join the opinion of the Court and
Justice Stevens’
opinion.